Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Oil companies to slice gasoline prices again on May 10

OIL companies on Monday again announced a price cut in petroleum products effective today.

At least two oil companies—Petron Corp. and Pilipinas Shell—informed the public on Monday morning of the P0.30 per liter rollback in gasoline, P0.40 per liter in kerosene and P0.20 per liter in diesel.

Petron will implement its price rollback on all service stations at 12:01 a.m., May 10. Shell, meanwhile, will implement its price adjustment 6 a.m. on Tuesday.

Other oil firms are expected to follow suit.

The price cut comes a week after oil companies implemented an increase per liter in gasoline by P1.50, for diesel by P1.35 and kerosene by P1.40 last Tuesday.

The price of liquified petroleum gas also increased by P1.55 per kilogram effective on May 1, as its contract price rose this month by $22.50 per metric ton (MT) to $363.50 per MT.

Based on its latest monitoring, the Department of Energy (DOE) said in the Asian market, Platts noted a global oversupply of gasoline, amid an absence of incremental demand, took a toll on the regional markets.

However, this has not stopped refineries from continuing to produce, flooding Asia with even more gasoline.

For diesel, Platts said the Asian market remained supported in the short term by supply tightness from North Asia, but the supply snugness should ease fairly quickly when refineries restart.